United's are now five points clear of fifth-placed Chelsea, who they beat on Sunday, while the gap between themselves and Arsenal has risen to a staggering 14 points.

The Gunners' best hope of securing Champions League football now appears to be following the same route United did last season and winning the Europa League, report football.london.

With the Gunners ten points behind their rivals Tottenham Hotspur in fourth, Mourinho has insisted that Arsene Wenger's men must win their Thursday night clash with Manchester City - a rematch of Sunday's Carabao Cup final - in order to have any hope of a top four finish or they will be forced to rely on the Europa League entirely.

Mourinho's spirits are high after his side's impressive win (Image: PA)

Arsenal put in a poor performance against Man City in the cup final at the weekend (Image: Action Images via Reuters)

"The top one is there and will be there," Mourinho said after goals from Romelu Lukaku and Jesse Lingard completed the comeback win over Chelsea.

"Arsenal really needs to win against City in the next Premier League match or then the distance will be too big for them, like it happened to us last season.

Lingard's goal against Chelsea gave United a big win at the weekend (Image: Getty Images Europe)

It was a disappointing weekend for Wenger and Arsenal (Image: AFP)

Video Loading

Video Unavailable

Click to playTap to play

The video will start in 8Cancel

Play now

"After that, Chelsea, Tottenham, Liverpool and us, we are four very good teams, all fighting to be in the quarter-final of the Champions League.

"That shows the dimension of the league, but from the four of us somebody has to be out."

After Sunday's 3-0 defeat to Man City at Wembley, Arsenal fans will be hoping for a stronger performance from their side when the two teams meet at the Emirates later this week.